Seriously people, I have said this before that the Russians don't do 'small'. Well this would also be the case in their malls that are situated on the outskirts of Moscow. There are three of them and we chose to go to Khimki. This one was at the end of our Metro line and then you get a free bus to the mall - well we managed to get the wrong bus and so it cost us 25 roubles but heh that's another story. Anyway anyway anyway - this mall was HUGE - holy cow i've never seen anything like it, well not in Britain. As Graeme and I walked through it we were greeted with signs like M&S, H&M, Bodyshop, Lush, ELC (early learning centre for those without children!) and the list goes on! You could literally be in a mall in America and there would be little difference. There was a massive ice skating rink in the middle as the Russians do love their ice skating! So, our main objective was to have a look in Ikea to see if it was going to be as horrendous as we imagined...mmmm...might well be. We managed to get distracted by a Burger King sign on the way to Ikea - had to stop off for a Vopper which is the bizarre equivalent to the whopper as if said by an English person trying to impersonate a German soldier - ' I vant a Vopper and I vant one now!' - Indeed. There is an art to ordering fast food here as there are no 'meals' and you have to order everything separately - I obviously learnt this the hard way as I ordered a burger and drink but ended up with no chips so then had to queue again and order chips 'King Fry' as they are called in Burger king. I did manage to order some onion rings which might have been by mistake, I'm not sure but I wasn't complaining. You must think we are being very slack by running into a Burger King but actually it's because we're genuinely eating really well here and certainly not eating as much at home so when you see a fast food chain it does get the old blood racing - FAT FAT FAT must consume immediately. Plus we haven't been able to go out in the evenings to eat or at lunch times as i'm usually with Arthur and so until we get into our new flat and get a babysitter we are stuck eating on the run usually when we are out and about. I'll have plenty of stories soon of local Russian cuisine...well, as long as it doesn't include strange bits of animal as you know what I'm like with meat - if I see a bit of fat or a vein or anything to make it look like it came from an animal then you can forget it.
So after our consumption of as much fat as we could eat in 10 minutes we sauntered into Ikea. It is exactly the same as any Ikea in the world - a place of joy and happiness - errr no. The biggest problem that we are going to have is the fact that all the signs and delivery instructions - well, you know, EVERYTHING is in Cyrillic which let's face it - Graeme and I have had problems ordering stuff in the Ikea in England and so I'm feeling slightly nervous about this situation. We also have to arrange delivery which is all regulated by different zones in Moscow and then also different prices for how many floors they have to go up - we're on the 6th floor so I think we'll have to pay quite a lot especially if things can't fit in the tiny elevator in the building! We also have to order a couch which is L shaped but we have to make sure the L is on the right and not left plus we need to make sure everything is the right colour.....you see where i'm going with this...it's complicated. I've emailed our agent that has helped us find a flat to see if she will come with us but I haven't heard back yet...mmm wonder why.
The good news is that we did find everything that we wanted and I think the flat will look great once we've got all the stuff in...getting to that point may be quite traumatic but once it's done we'll be nearly there! The mall also had a massive Auchan - the French supermarket and so this will be good for getting all our basics every month. So yes, the mall was about 4 football pitches in size and has allayed any fears about not being able to find certain things.
On Sunday we went up to the new flat to measure the rooms to make sure all the furniture we're planning to buy will fit. Our crate from home with our other stuff is still in Britain and so I'm not sure when we'll be getting that. The Russians have also changed their import laws on animals and so the cats and dog will not be flown out until October 7th now as the paperwork has trebled and we now have to pay 4 euros per kilo of their weight too....honestly, they change the bloody rules here daily. We also have to come back to Britain for four days in November to collect Graeme's work visa from the Russian embassy in Britain as they have changed some rule on that as well....make up your mind people. I'm coming home with three empty suitcases and buying lots of stuff that I can't get here or that is mega expensive. It will be good for my air miles too but in the end i'd rather not fly a 3.5 hour flight with a crazy one year old if I don't have to.
Arthur is turning into a complete monkey - that's the nice way of putting it... ; ) He doesn't stop speaking now - or babbling with the odd word thrown in. Pointing and shouting out insane jibber jabber seems to be the way forward. How does he have so much to say having experienced so little of the world? Maybe he's talking about the shelving units in Ikea and I'm blissfully unaware of the conversation. He storms everywhere with his finger out pointing and usually shouting with a furrowed brow - a very intense brow indeed. Arthur doesn't walk he 'Storms'. When we were at the new flat on Sunday he just ran round in circles through his bedroom into the hall through the sitting room and then always ending up in the kitchen at the dishwasher as it has lots of buttons. If you say 'Arthur, come back please' he just turns around totally ignoring you and storms off in the opposite direction finger held aloft shouting 'no no no!' Excellent. We also play a good game where I get a box and sit of the sofa and then I tell him to go and get his blocks that he has thrown all over the floor and he gets one at a time and puts them in the box. This is quite good although after a few blocks I say 'get one more block' and he looks at me as if to say 'I know what you're up to here mother, I seem to be doing all the work and you as usual are sat on your fat behind' Yes dear, it's called 'I'm higher up the food chain, now go get me another block'.
The sun is bright in the sky today and feels quite hot - I think it is about 18 degrees and so we're off to a play park and hopefully find a sand pit. Towards the end of the week the temperature is dropping to 5 degrees and -2 at night so I better make the most of this sunshine!
Monday, 27 September 2010
Friday, 24 September 2010
Cursed ourselves - I knew it!
I wrote this last weekend - I'm a bit behind on blog....
See, shouldn't have got all happy about having things in place - the nanny/cleaner can't do some of the hours we asked....damn it! Back to the drawing board on that one. Plus a wheel just came off the buggy - oh for the love of God, cursed cursed cursed. It is raining today and so our plans have been scuppered for going to see more sights with Arthur. Graeme wants to go on the KGB tour - in fact he's overly enthusiastic - don't know what he thinks is going to happen. A Russian guy told us a place round the back of the Kremlin that you can go in and see all the diamonds - equivalent of crown jewels I think. Although why we have to sneak round the back I'm not sure - we might be part of some heist and will be totally unaware of this until we end up in Siberia doing time. That's the kinda shit that happens here. I was reading in the paper yesterday - sorry should have done the title -
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE OF THE DAY - A leading Gay activist in Russia had flown in to Moscow to stage a peaceful Gay pride march when he was picked up by police and bundled into a car and driven off. Luckily he still had his mobile and so was texting his friends to let them know what was going on. The last text message they received was from Minsk (yes, the capital of Belarus) where he'd been driven for some unknown reason and then the police discovered his mobile so that was the last they heard from him. I don't know whether anyone has heard from him since - i'll keep checking the papers...but seriously, you can't do that, it's totally insane. At least take the poor man to Florence or something. You can't just remove people that you don't like....ahhhh, I forgot, I'm in Russia, they do things differently here..... - update - the guy was found in the outskirts of Moscow (alive) as the police had pretended to take him to Minsk but it was all just a plan to scare him....
Also, a gangster got taken out on the road we're going to live on recently. Opened his car door and as he stepped onto the street - boom - sniper shot from a window across the street. I'm getting the feeling that you really shouldn't annoy anyone here as there could be serious consequences!
Anyway, enough of the scare stories as I could go on all day... that's an understatement and a half. - update - crime boss was actually hit in the stomach by the sniper and is still alive in hospital with 50 armed guards - police put out that he was dead to stop anyone trying to finish him off in hospital...
We ordered a pizza last night as we decided that we hadn't eaten any fat since we got here which is outrageous and so we found a pizza hut site that had an English menu and ordered away - all excited. Well, two hours later we were still waiting and finally the guy arrived but he has to go by Metro so it takes the poor man forever - as you can imagine this results in rather cold stodgy pizza that doesn't quite live up to the image you have in your head....looks like i'll be losing weight after all...damn it.
By the way, the whole Pope thing is getting in the way of the only English channel I have - it's the only thing on sky news and I've had about as much as I can take. That's it now, go home please so that my channel can be restored to the usual stories of murder and terrorism. There was a brilliant placard that one of the protesters was holding up, it said, 'Abstinence makes the church grow fondlers' - you gotta give credit where credit's due - that's a pretty good play on words...made me chuckle anyway. This is what happens when you only have one channel. Pope has gone home now so T.V is back to normal.
Managed to get to the play park this afternoon with Arthur. The whole area is made of that spongy stuff so they don't hurt themselves but there was one tiny area that was a bit rough where the spongy stuff had come off and what happens...Arthur walks straight for it and boom...forehead and nose grazed. Excellent, he now definitely looks like the victim of abuse and these Russian ladies love telling you what to do with your child - I got stopped in the lift yesterday as I was taking Arthur down to the little supermarket in the hotel and so he didn't have any socks on - well, you'd think I had left him in just a nappy in minus ten! I had three Russian ladies all pointing at his feet and huffing and then one lady spoke English and said accusingly, 'You're not taking him outside are you?' Keep your hair on - it's all okay, just going to the internal supermarche...don't stress people! We managed to get to the toy shop today as well to stock up on baby food - Graeme stupidly handed Arthur a toy to look at and then took it away from him - oh dear, you could hear the crying through the whole of Moscow. We live and learn. We found an amazing snow suit for children in the shop so we're looking forward to getting one for Arthur - it had all fur around the hood - very Siberian! So just a relaxing day today although because the buggy broke we're going to struggle doing much tomorrow but I think we'll head to a Stalinist fun park...I know, slightly contradictory you're thinking but heh, you never know it might just be a barrel of laughs.
We didn't actually head to the park as we had no buggy but it's okay - we have a buggy now. I finally snapped and ordered/ asked nicely Graeme to go and get one the other evening as the shops stay open here till 10pm. He got a taxi - which is quite a step here as you do have to speak some Russian plus they have rogue taxis that are just private cars hoping to earn some extra cash. They are supposed to be safe and everyone uses them here but you have to be quite firm in what you want to pay. You state a price and then walk away if they complain and usually they'll call you back - takes some guts and practice so this is something that may take me some time to conquer although if I have Arthur then it's nearly impossible as you have to have a car seat in taxis here unlike Britain and if it's just a private car then you definitely have to have a car seat!
As I have been hotel bound up until yesterday there is little for me to share hence why there has been a lull in my blog - plus the dial up is beyond annoying and so I am waiting with glee to get into our new flat. On Monday we signed the contracts and got our set of keys although the landlord said he is going to change the locks as he thinks the last tenants still have a set. The landlord is a lecturer at the university and boy is he a cliché of that mad professor image you have in your head! He seems very nice and laid back so that's great. He is ordering curtains for us as we stipulated that we wanted him to supply them as the windows are huge and it would have blown our whole Ikea budget! I have some pictures that I will try and put up later. Arthur is very taken with the piano that is in the flat - I fear some noisy times ahead...let's hope the walls are thick whilst Amadeus Ogilvie tries his hardest to knock out a few tunes. I'm really really happy with the flat we have found - it definitely has a warm and open feeling to it and it seems a very sociable place. Arthur has ended up with the biggest room which opens up onto the sitting room as we thought that this could be a playroom as well and then he can keep all his mess on one side of the flat....well, that's the plan anyway! I have been trawling through the Russian Ikea site - not the most fun i've had in a while but I have found some very nice stuff to fill the flat with although I am slightly worried by the fact that a notice kept coming up saying 'These prices may not accurately reflect the actual in store prices' - mmmm -the prices online are pretty good - just a bit more than Britain but i'm now concerned that I'll arrive at Ikea with my well thought out list and everything will actually be double....they can't do that though eh...it's Ikea...surely they have to keep within a price band?! Oh heck....watch this space for Ikea meltdown story..we're going a week today so not long to wait for that.
I'm being a bit of a wally with the language - Graeme is doing much better than me and I'm just being a total wimp - I keep pushing him forward going 'you say it, you do it' like a shy child hiding behind the leg of his mother! Graeme finally had enough last night as I refused once again to phone someone as they might speak Russian to me - ' For goodness sake Chloe - you're supposed to be the linguist here and I'm doing all the work!' to which my reply was 'It's not my fault I have a phobia of phones!' - I do actually have a real case phobia of speaking to people on the phone...I was one of the people in the world that rejoiced in the invention of texting and so I don't particularly want to phone someone where it might be even more uncomfortable as we don't speak the same language. I keep getting words mixed up and have a real problem with a few words that I just can't seem to get straight -
Please - POZHALUYSTA
Hello - ZDRASTVOOYTE
Excuse me - IZVINITE
Sorry - PROSTITE
For some reason I just can't get these words in my head against the right meanings and so become dumb in the street as I'm worried I'm going to say 'hello' when I mean 'Excuse me' oh Lord, make it end. I've really just got to get a grip of myself and stop being so damned British. Typical Brits as well that the first words we are learning are all the ones to make us more polite where as the Russians barely use these words! I've got to phone and book a restaurant today - Graeme has refused to do it and so in doing forced my hand and so I will let you know how I get on...
This afternoon Arthur and I are off to a baby group called 'The mostly boys club' sounds just the sort of club for Arthur as rough and tumble seem to be his middle name. It's being held in a park today as the sun is shining. Yesterday it was 5 degrees and I must admit that I was quite chilly - oh dear - what am I going to be like in minus 20?! I'll be used to it by then surely!
Anyway, sorry for the lack of photos but until I get into our new flat (a week tomorrow - yihaaaaaa) then you'll just have to wait. So long friends.
See, shouldn't have got all happy about having things in place - the nanny/cleaner can't do some of the hours we asked....damn it! Back to the drawing board on that one. Plus a wheel just came off the buggy - oh for the love of God, cursed cursed cursed. It is raining today and so our plans have been scuppered for going to see more sights with Arthur. Graeme wants to go on the KGB tour - in fact he's overly enthusiastic - don't know what he thinks is going to happen. A Russian guy told us a place round the back of the Kremlin that you can go in and see all the diamonds - equivalent of crown jewels I think. Although why we have to sneak round the back I'm not sure - we might be part of some heist and will be totally unaware of this until we end up in Siberia doing time. That's the kinda shit that happens here. I was reading in the paper yesterday - sorry should have done the title -
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE OF THE DAY - A leading Gay activist in Russia had flown in to Moscow to stage a peaceful Gay pride march when he was picked up by police and bundled into a car and driven off. Luckily he still had his mobile and so was texting his friends to let them know what was going on. The last text message they received was from Minsk (yes, the capital of Belarus) where he'd been driven for some unknown reason and then the police discovered his mobile so that was the last they heard from him. I don't know whether anyone has heard from him since - i'll keep checking the papers...but seriously, you can't do that, it's totally insane. At least take the poor man to Florence or something. You can't just remove people that you don't like....ahhhh, I forgot, I'm in Russia, they do things differently here..... - update - the guy was found in the outskirts of Moscow (alive) as the police had pretended to take him to Minsk but it was all just a plan to scare him....
Also, a gangster got taken out on the road we're going to live on recently. Opened his car door and as he stepped onto the street - boom - sniper shot from a window across the street. I'm getting the feeling that you really shouldn't annoy anyone here as there could be serious consequences!
Anyway, enough of the scare stories as I could go on all day... that's an understatement and a half. - update - crime boss was actually hit in the stomach by the sniper and is still alive in hospital with 50 armed guards - police put out that he was dead to stop anyone trying to finish him off in hospital...
We ordered a pizza last night as we decided that we hadn't eaten any fat since we got here which is outrageous and so we found a pizza hut site that had an English menu and ordered away - all excited. Well, two hours later we were still waiting and finally the guy arrived but he has to go by Metro so it takes the poor man forever - as you can imagine this results in rather cold stodgy pizza that doesn't quite live up to the image you have in your head....looks like i'll be losing weight after all...damn it.
By the way, the whole Pope thing is getting in the way of the only English channel I have - it's the only thing on sky news and I've had about as much as I can take. That's it now, go home please so that my channel can be restored to the usual stories of murder and terrorism. There was a brilliant placard that one of the protesters was holding up, it said, 'Abstinence makes the church grow fondlers' - you gotta give credit where credit's due - that's a pretty good play on words...made me chuckle anyway. This is what happens when you only have one channel. Pope has gone home now so T.V is back to normal.
Managed to get to the play park this afternoon with Arthur. The whole area is made of that spongy stuff so they don't hurt themselves but there was one tiny area that was a bit rough where the spongy stuff had come off and what happens...Arthur walks straight for it and boom...forehead and nose grazed. Excellent, he now definitely looks like the victim of abuse and these Russian ladies love telling you what to do with your child - I got stopped in the lift yesterday as I was taking Arthur down to the little supermarket in the hotel and so he didn't have any socks on - well, you'd think I had left him in just a nappy in minus ten! I had three Russian ladies all pointing at his feet and huffing and then one lady spoke English and said accusingly, 'You're not taking him outside are you?' Keep your hair on - it's all okay, just going to the internal supermarche...don't stress people! We managed to get to the toy shop today as well to stock up on baby food - Graeme stupidly handed Arthur a toy to look at and then took it away from him - oh dear, you could hear the crying through the whole of Moscow. We live and learn. We found an amazing snow suit for children in the shop so we're looking forward to getting one for Arthur - it had all fur around the hood - very Siberian! So just a relaxing day today although because the buggy broke we're going to struggle doing much tomorrow but I think we'll head to a Stalinist fun park...I know, slightly contradictory you're thinking but heh, you never know it might just be a barrel of laughs.
We didn't actually head to the park as we had no buggy but it's okay - we have a buggy now. I finally snapped and ordered/ asked nicely Graeme to go and get one the other evening as the shops stay open here till 10pm. He got a taxi - which is quite a step here as you do have to speak some Russian plus they have rogue taxis that are just private cars hoping to earn some extra cash. They are supposed to be safe and everyone uses them here but you have to be quite firm in what you want to pay. You state a price and then walk away if they complain and usually they'll call you back - takes some guts and practice so this is something that may take me some time to conquer although if I have Arthur then it's nearly impossible as you have to have a car seat in taxis here unlike Britain and if it's just a private car then you definitely have to have a car seat!
As I have been hotel bound up until yesterday there is little for me to share hence why there has been a lull in my blog - plus the dial up is beyond annoying and so I am waiting with glee to get into our new flat. On Monday we signed the contracts and got our set of keys although the landlord said he is going to change the locks as he thinks the last tenants still have a set. The landlord is a lecturer at the university and boy is he a cliché of that mad professor image you have in your head! He seems very nice and laid back so that's great. He is ordering curtains for us as we stipulated that we wanted him to supply them as the windows are huge and it would have blown our whole Ikea budget! I have some pictures that I will try and put up later. Arthur is very taken with the piano that is in the flat - I fear some noisy times ahead...let's hope the walls are thick whilst Amadeus Ogilvie tries his hardest to knock out a few tunes. I'm really really happy with the flat we have found - it definitely has a warm and open feeling to it and it seems a very sociable place. Arthur has ended up with the biggest room which opens up onto the sitting room as we thought that this could be a playroom as well and then he can keep all his mess on one side of the flat....well, that's the plan anyway! I have been trawling through the Russian Ikea site - not the most fun i've had in a while but I have found some very nice stuff to fill the flat with although I am slightly worried by the fact that a notice kept coming up saying 'These prices may not accurately reflect the actual in store prices' - mmmm -the prices online are pretty good - just a bit more than Britain but i'm now concerned that I'll arrive at Ikea with my well thought out list and everything will actually be double....they can't do that though eh...it's Ikea...surely they have to keep within a price band?! Oh heck....watch this space for Ikea meltdown story..we're going a week today so not long to wait for that.
I'm being a bit of a wally with the language - Graeme is doing much better than me and I'm just being a total wimp - I keep pushing him forward going 'you say it, you do it' like a shy child hiding behind the leg of his mother! Graeme finally had enough last night as I refused once again to phone someone as they might speak Russian to me - ' For goodness sake Chloe - you're supposed to be the linguist here and I'm doing all the work!' to which my reply was 'It's not my fault I have a phobia of phones!' - I do actually have a real case phobia of speaking to people on the phone...I was one of the people in the world that rejoiced in the invention of texting and so I don't particularly want to phone someone where it might be even more uncomfortable as we don't speak the same language. I keep getting words mixed up and have a real problem with a few words that I just can't seem to get straight -
Please - POZHALUYSTA
Hello - ZDRASTVOOYTE
Excuse me - IZVINITE
Sorry - PROSTITE
For some reason I just can't get these words in my head against the right meanings and so become dumb in the street as I'm worried I'm going to say 'hello' when I mean 'Excuse me' oh Lord, make it end. I've really just got to get a grip of myself and stop being so damned British. Typical Brits as well that the first words we are learning are all the ones to make us more polite where as the Russians barely use these words! I've got to phone and book a restaurant today - Graeme has refused to do it and so in doing forced my hand and so I will let you know how I get on...
This afternoon Arthur and I are off to a baby group called 'The mostly boys club' sounds just the sort of club for Arthur as rough and tumble seem to be his middle name. It's being held in a park today as the sun is shining. Yesterday it was 5 degrees and I must admit that I was quite chilly - oh dear - what am I going to be like in minus 20?! I'll be used to it by then surely!
Anyway, sorry for the lack of photos but until I get into our new flat (a week tomorrow - yihaaaaaa) then you'll just have to wait. So long friends.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
So far so good.....
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| Eating a yoghurt by himself..fun but messy. |
I'm having a blog fog...well that's what I call it anyway. The dial up internet in this hotel is driving me to distraction and i'm becoming sulky and irritable about it. The problem is that the thing that suffers most is this blog as I'm losing my patience. If people can stick with me till the end of the month then we should be okay as I will be entering the world of high speed tinternet (that's not a typo, I meant it) again and we'll be off!
So newspaper article of the day - the Russian parliament are putting through stricter laws regarding dog walking in Moscow...one of the laws is 'you can't walk your dog when under the influence of alcohol' - that's the human not the dog. This will cause me untold problems and so i'm making dog walking one of Arthur's chores - it's easier that way. To tell you the truth there definitely hasn't been enough PIVO time and I look forward to this in the future months.
I have been awfully busy in the last few days organising our lives out here. I should put 'we' and not 'I' as Graeme has been busy too. Our flat seems to be going through although the 'negotiating' part which is what we are doing at the moment does take a while but we are signing the contract on Monday all going well. I'm super excited about this as although it only has two bedrooms which does cause problems when guests come, it is a rather lovely place and it is in the best position ever. The Kremlin is literally 2 minutes walk away so you can't get more central. It has a 24 hour supermarket across the road and is above a huge toy shop...not that Arthur will be allowed to know it is there. It even has a Macdonalds 30 seconds from the door for those hungover mornings. Fantastico. We have managed to organise a dog walker which is important as we are so central and we need Alice to get a proper run. We also need her to have someone with her that knows how to control dogs as there are a lot of strays in Moscow who can get a bit vicious with dogs walking past - poor Alice, she is going to get a culture shock! There are loads of shops for coats and boots for your dog when the snow starts in November, I can't wait to get some boots on Alice - boy, that will be funny. I'm hoping to get her a proper fur Russian hat just to make her feel at home....; ) We have also sorted out Arthur's nursery which is only 2 minutes walk from the new flat. We took him there today and he loved it! Although whilst all the other children were singing and pretending to ride horses, Arthur found a huge plastic luminous yellow pole that he decided to swing about like a light sabre nearly taking out half the children. He has spirit, what can I say! He'll only go for 6 hours a week to start with but i'm sure he'll love it! Plus all the classes are taught in Russian which means he will definitely be speaking fluent Ruskie in no time.
We have also hired a Nanny/cleaner - I know, it sounds posh but really she is like an aupair/babysitter. We don't know anyone here and so it's a useful thing to have when I go to the shops or do anything out of the house as it is difficult to do stuff with buggy. As we have no family and friends here it is also great to have a break now and again. Anyway, everyone has a nanny here, it's pretty normal and nothing like what you'd think if you had one at home as there isn't anything like childminders here, you just get a nanny! Bloody brilliant if you ask me especially the price of them. I better not get too used to this sort of thing or i'll get a shock when I return to G.B! So folks, we are pretty much getting there, Oh and the landlord dropped the rent on the flat just to add to our good day! Whoop whoop. We are waiting for something to go wrong now...our cynical minds can't stand too much goodness.
Yesterday Arthur and I went to a group 'classical music for children'. After travelling on my beloved Metro and climbing the usual amount of bloody steps we finally found the place. I opened the front door and to my surprise (highly sarcastic tone on that) there was a steep staircase that seemed to go on forever. I was so distressed to see this that I nearly turned around and walked off in a stair huff. Luckily though there was a very sweet English gentleman with his young daughter who helped me and I then reciprocated so all was well until we got further in and then there was another huge staircase.....one day I am going to take a picture of every staircase I have to climb in one day and then you will truly understand my pain or laugh at my pain...whichever takes your fancy. So, we finally get up to the room and to tell you the truth it was definitely worth it. Everyone sits on pillows and most people there were Russian which was great and then a string quartet play different melodies. The videos will show that at first Arthur was at the back but then moved to the front of his own accord and was absolutely awestruck!
This is at the beginning but he soon moves to the front -
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| Children and music chaos |
Life is starting to fit into place and Arthur has decided that walking is the stuff of men. I have included some videos of him taking his first steps as it makes me laugh so much - there really is a massive comparison to a drunken old man....is this what Graeme is going to look like in a few years time?
Arthur has also decided that if he doesn't get his own way or if you say 'No' then he will scream the most high pitched scream I have ever heard - it sounds like I'm trying to strangle him. He decided this afternoon in the hotel lobby to start this mad screaming because I had told him not to go up the stairs - well, the whole reception area (which is massive) just stared over at us and I had that total goldfish in a bowl experience but instead of getting angry I just burst into hysterics as it was just soooo funny. This obviously didn't help my reputation in this situation because not only did people think I was trying to kill my child but they probably thought I was drunk as well. Isn't parenting a hoot?!
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Pointless Chatter
The Russians don't do small talk and find it wastes precious time. Indeed, I am a champion at small talk and filling silences and so I'm sure the Russians will think me a fritterer. We have a book called 'Living in Moscow' which is basically a bible for expats here and I must admit - the section on Russian personalities is very interesting. Having been through Stalinist Russia and just about come out the other side, the general Russian is not quick to trust - hence the seemingly unfriendly disposition. They also speak to each other very close up - again harping back to the days where you never knew who was listening - the whole 'talk cost lives' concept. This also applies to the telephone - as a Russian would prefer to talk about private matters in person and you will often here them say, 'this is not a telephone conversation.' All very cloak and dagger -
To tell you the truth, I have been amazed at how kind they have been on the Metro and helping me with the steps. Graeme told some of his Russian work colleagues this and they were all genuinely quite shocked that people had helped me. Oh well, maybe it's the look of desperation on my face. I keep smiling at people and getting no response but I shall keep smiling and one day I shall get a nice surprise when someone beams back! When you look at recent Russian history then it is very easy to understand why they are like they are and I don't mind at all. I like the moody thing - reminds me of myself when I'm not getting my own way. I'm hoping that some of the Russian directness will rub off on me as I've always needed this skill. This helps with the language too as you can say 'pass salt' rather than 'can you please pass the salt...blahdy blahdy blah' - I think we are getting a Russian tutor soon - I've been looking in my book and have decided that this really is quite a tricky language - not only does each noun have six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and locative and a little bit of vocative - okay, seven cases) but it also has 3 genders - masc, fem, neuter, adjectives have to agree with their corresponding noun. Also, just to make matters slightly worse (can it be worse?) although verbs only have the three basic tenses - past, future, present - they use a feature called aspect to express particular shades of meaning AND the Russian verb has 5 moods and 4 voices.....holy bonanza, that's going to be easy then seeing as I don't even know what that means. They say that unless you learn how to manipulate the grammar properly then it is most likely that a Russian will not understand a thing you are saying...oh excellent. I think I will be sticking to the point and one word system - how much more direct could I get - seems I am slightly more Russian than I thought.
Went to a meeting of the BWC (British Women's club) today at the British Embassy. All very good and have become member. I have learnt lots of useful information and there is a lovely lady there who actually speaks Russian and so she has said that she will translate websites for me - marvellous! The British embassy is huge and all glass - very swanky. No jobs going there at the moment and so I will have to wait for one to appear and then apply if it something within my realm of expertise...mmmm, might be waiting a long time then. Anyway, I'm off to go and measure one of the flats to see if our bed can fit in one of the rooms even though our container of furniture and things is still in Britain...great. Tomorrow I'm attending a group called 'classical music for babies' - an orchestra plays lovely melodies to the babies and then they allow the babies to handle the instruments....oh god, watch this space for Arthur having been banned for pulling a violin apart...
Monday, 13 September 2010
Gorky Park
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| Arthur at Gorky Park - pointing as always! |
I think I must be eating the wrong things at breakfast because I'm following Arthur's sleeping pattern at the moment - yesterday and today I put him to bed at 9.30am for his nap and I went to bed too - we both woke up at 12ish! I think it may be the fact that i've discovered they do pancakes and maple syrup, not the best way to start the day - huge sugar high and then two hours in bed.
Great story in the paper today - Putin and Berlusconi were chatting about the fact that the Italians are doing tests and research on how to extend a human's life to 120 years old. Putin then says to Berlusconi 'Ahhh excellent, we can be Prime minister forever'. Indeed Putin, but I don't think that's quite the point of the research.
We have managed to bring the flat hunting to a close for now and have narrowed our choice down to 2 apartments - I HATE IT! Neither is perfect and so on both you would have to compromise. The first is opposite a park (great for Alice and Arthur) it has three bedrooms although the lay out is slightly odd and there is a bedroom off the kitchen - you would also have to get the Metro 2 stops to Arthur's nursery but it is in a family area and is quiet. The other has only two bedrooms but is $1000 less per month but is on a main road 2 minutes from the Kremlin - great that it is in centre but not great for Alice but Arthur's nursery is only 2 minutes walk away and it has an odd charm with huge ceilings and a nice kitchen where you could have a table but it has a weird lay out too and Arthur would end up with one of the biggest rooms in the flat that has double doors onto the sitting room - would this be too noisy? Plus it is on one of the busiest streets in Moscow so would the noise at night wake him up? Please write letters with your vote of which flat to ....P.O BOX Confused in Moscow....
Anyway, once I'd finally managed to open my eyes yesterday, we decided to go and explore Gorky Park as we had been dragging poor Arthur around so many apartments and he hadn't had much fun so it was his day yesterday. We had to get the Metro there so guess what...some pics of Metro...
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| A rather splendid Metro.... |
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| On wall of Metro |
When we came out of the Metro we were just at the start of a road called Leninsky Prospect (I think that might be a slightly wrong spelling as don't have map on me...) and so to go with the name there was a rather enormous statue to celebrate the fact-
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| Lenin guarding his road.... |
There was also a sweet little church tucked away on the corner-
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| Little Churches everywhere... |
Gorky park is weird...it has grass and fountains but is full of fun fair rides that look like they've seen better days. I don't think you could pay me enough money to go on one of them but hey maybe with enough vodka you never know.
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| Entrance to Gorky Park |
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| In front of Gorky Park entrance |
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| Nothing is small here.... |
Arthur seemed to enjoy the whole excursion - he went on a train with his daddy - ahhhh
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| Off they go! |
There was also the chance for a camel ride...
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| Yes - it is a real camel. |
Again, maybe after a few vodkas but not before. We weren't quite sure how to buy tickets for the small rides and didn't think poor Arthur was big enough so we had a good walk round and saw lots of interesting things -
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| Gorky Park |
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| Soldiers in the park |
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| Large Soviet headquarters to something... |
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| View down the Moscva from the park |
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| View the other way - |
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| Our future house... |
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| We were calling him Jean Paul Gautier all day (the jumper) |
We stopped off in a small restaurant and the only thing we could work out from the menu was PIVO - remember people, this is beer and my new words of the day KARTOFEL FRI - fried potatoes (chips). So I can now ask for chips and beer in Russian and so I no longer need to get Russian classes as I think I will be able to exist on this for quite a while. Typical that these are my first words but heh...little by little. I can say milk - MOLOKO just in case you thought my language skills had based themselves on all things bad. I can actually say a few other things as well but I will not bore you with my pigeon Russian - in fact I think pigeon might be too big for this description maybe I should say my Blue Tit Russian.
So, poor Arthur was given a little clean air and we managed to walk another 20km in a 3 hour extravaganza around Moscow.
Today we have been shopping - I have discovered that all things baby - e.g food and nappies etc. are to be found in toy shops and not supermarkets - well not in the centre anyway. Having made this discovery I then had to fight my way up 20 steep steps into the toy shop - tell me people, is it just me or why put steep steps up to a toy shop when your target market is people with buggies? Seriously - these people hate people with buggies. Anyway 36 nappies cost me £9 - bloody hell! That was the cheap brand as well. The baby food is the same price although they are awfully fond of tarragon in their baby food - strange. I think that shopping is much cheaper when you go to the hyper markets on the outskirts - there are free buses that take you to them from the Metro so I think once we're in a flat I will go out to one of them once a month for my big shop which will save me money. I will have to get a taxi back but Graeme has been given a number of a cab company that give Graeme's work a discount and they have English speaking operators...phew.
That's it for now folks, I'm about to take Arthur down to the hotel lobby for his evening exercise and then I shall be trying to cook a beef pie with one pot and a frying pan (this is all I have in the apartment). I think I bought roll out puff pastry today but who knows - i'll probably open the packet and it'll be tripe or something just as pleasant.....
So, poor Arthur was given a little clean air and we managed to walk another 20km in a 3 hour extravaganza around Moscow.
Today we have been shopping - I have discovered that all things baby - e.g food and nappies etc. are to be found in toy shops and not supermarkets - well not in the centre anyway. Having made this discovery I then had to fight my way up 20 steep steps into the toy shop - tell me people, is it just me or why put steep steps up to a toy shop when your target market is people with buggies? Seriously - these people hate people with buggies. Anyway 36 nappies cost me £9 - bloody hell! That was the cheap brand as well. The baby food is the same price although they are awfully fond of tarragon in their baby food - strange. I think that shopping is much cheaper when you go to the hyper markets on the outskirts - there are free buses that take you to them from the Metro so I think once we're in a flat I will go out to one of them once a month for my big shop which will save me money. I will have to get a taxi back but Graeme has been given a number of a cab company that give Graeme's work a discount and they have English speaking operators...phew.
That's it for now folks, I'm about to take Arthur down to the hotel lobby for his evening exercise and then I shall be trying to cook a beef pie with one pot and a frying pan (this is all I have in the apartment). I think I bought roll out puff pastry today but who knows - i'll probably open the packet and it'll be tripe or something just as pleasant.....
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| On the way home... |
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| In Arthur's words 'Brooooom Broooooooom' |
Friday, 10 September 2010
Muscles - Eureka!
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| Tarzan/Arthur |
Okay, I know...I haven't been on for two days - to tell you the truth, you're lucky i'm on now seeing as I'm like the hunched back of Notradame (if spelt incorrect then I don't care and you know what I mean). Anyway, I'm bloody crippled. I've just discovered that there are mosquitoes in Moscow - the back of one of my legs is like a rugby ball and one of my cheeks (yeah people, the one by my nose) is quite similar. I'd actually read it in one of the guide books but had forgotten - it was lucky we remembered as we were about to accuse the hotel of having fleas...that could have been a tense moment. So, not only have I got massive whelts appearing everywhere but I was sitting at breakfast yesterday and felt a lump in my arm - oh my god, I have a growth...I'm in Russia, what am I going to do? Quickly bringing up my shirt in a slightly frightened yet need to know fashion, I realised that the lump was in fact a protruding muscle.....holy mother of God, I have triceps. I don't think up to this point I have ever noticed having triceps or biceps or whatever they are called but now I have two and they are making a bid for freedom. Stair climbing is definitely having an effect and to tell you the truth, you need them to drink the litre cans of lager that are sold here -
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| Russian Can/Normal sized can |
No wonder the Russians are good at weight lifting - they have plenty of practice at home with these cans!
Not only am I crippled from mosquito bites and muscle bulging and some rather unpleasant chaffing from the jeans but my Dad came to visit today from St. Peters burg (where he is currently on holiday) and we did a straight 4 hours walking to see the sights - not all of them but a small portion before legs gave out. I know I keep going on about the stairs but seriously - up down up down up down - with buggy and 2 stone mega child....My knees are starting to give way, my back hurts so that I'm hunched over and I think I have two corns on my toes...they're white anyway - maybe it's gangrene - next week i'll have no toes at all....just a metal stump where my legs used to be....there are quite a lot of beggars with metal stumps for legs - maybe they had to climb too many stairs and now see what's happened to them.
Enough about me - I took some photos today of the glorious sights and sounds of Moscow, there is quite a varied batch, but you see because of the whole dial up internet palava I have to write the blog in the room and then go down to hotel lobby to load photos and in so doing forget what i've written and what photos are to go where. The following are just some interesting places we saw before the collapse of my spinal cord-
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| Tomb of the unknown soldier |
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| Rather moving memorial |
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| Kremlin entrance |
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| Fountain with horses running along side Kremlin gardens |
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| Along side of Kremlin gardens - beautiful blue mosaics under the water |
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| Dad, Arthur and I |
The shopping malls here are also very beautiful inside -
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| Ceiling of mall with map of Russia - just in case you get lost - |
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| Fountain in shopping mall - they have a M&S.... |
They have metal detectors everywhere here - sometimes there are no people manning them but you go through anyway and beep and then have a game to think what it is you have on you that has made it beep....oh the fun you can have!
So today there was a keep fit thing going on next to the Kremlin - anyone could join in - but only if you had been through the metal detector....keep fit suicide bombers....interesting concept - I'm quite pro that concept as I can't stand lycra clad thin people, so I say - yes, blow them up and rejoice!
After watching some people jumping up and down we headed to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Wow, I'm not religious but it was splendid as the pictures will testify - you can't take pictures inside but just imagine gold and times it by ten. You also can't take buggies in which I think is a bit harsh but it would seem that God doesn't want his shiny floor to get scratches on...so Arthur missed the gold -
We then headed to Stary Arbat which means old Arbat - the bohemian place i've told you about before. I actually had the camera this time so I have some evidence!
It's a little like Covent Garden with the street artists and musicians - check out the video of the mad guitar thing with bells on (Listen, I can only inform to a certain level - you can use google and check what instrument it is).
We also saw Pushkin's house - Tchaikovsky also lived here at some point in his life.
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| Random metal detectors... |
So today there was a keep fit thing going on next to the Kremlin - anyone could join in - but only if you had been through the metal detector....keep fit suicide bombers....interesting concept - I'm quite pro that concept as I can't stand lycra clad thin people, so I say - yes, blow them up and rejoice!
After watching some people jumping up and down we headed to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Wow, I'm not religious but it was splendid as the pictures will testify - you can't take pictures inside but just imagine gold and times it by ten. You also can't take buggies in which I think is a bit harsh but it would seem that God doesn't want his shiny floor to get scratches on...so Arthur missed the gold -
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| Cathedral of Christ the Saviour |
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| Section of a relief on front of Cathedral |
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| Walk way around Cathedral |
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| They were about to lift this onto top of Cathedral |
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| Cathedral Gardens |
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| View from the bridge of the Cathedral down the Moscva river to Kremlin |
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| A small church hidden between 1950's tower blocks |
The strange monument in the background - like the front of a ship ( was going to use a technical boat term but realised I don't know what the front of a boat is called - a bow?) is a tribute to Peter the Great who founded the Russian navy -
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| Graeme the Great (in his head anyway) |
We then headed to Stary Arbat which means old Arbat - the bohemian place i've told you about before. I actually had the camera this time so I have some evidence!
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| Stary Arbat |
It's a little like Covent Garden with the street artists and musicians - check out the video of the mad guitar thing with bells on (Listen, I can only inform to a certain level - you can use google and check what instrument it is).
We also saw Pushkin's house - Tchaikovsky also lived here at some point in his life.
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| House of Pushkin |
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| Pushkin |
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| A dancing lady - with three drunks behind.... |
I also have some rather splendid Metro pictures - you didn't think i'd forget about my Metro obsession did you?
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| Entrance to Smolenskaya Metro |
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| Metro Station |
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| Above the escalators |
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| Going down sir.... |
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| If I can't find an apartment, I might live here. |
So followers - although you had to wait a day or two for next update- your dictator has been busy and is growing stronger - one muscle at a time. If you are wondering what I did yesterday well, visited two flats - one was enormous - two balconies, a walk in wardrobe that had room to iron and everything (not that I would ever be in there...) and 3 toilets....we could have one each...but it was in the wrong area. Arthur and I came home and we spent the afternoon exploring the corridors of the hotel....
Sometimes you've just gotta do something simple to quiet the mind and androgynous hotel corridors have that power - as long as you don't slip into 'The Shining' territory because then this blog would turn into an entirely different affair....'Wendy, let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're distracting me. And it will then take me time to get back to where I was. You understand? '
Sometimes you've just gotta do something simple to quiet the mind and androgynous hotel corridors have that power - as long as you don't slip into 'The Shining' territory because then this blog would turn into an entirely different affair....'Wendy, let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're distracting me. And it will then take me time to get back to where I was. You understand? '
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